War For The Planet Of The Apes Planning A Major Reveal This Weekend

Odds are, a great many of you were already planning to tune in to watch AMC’s mega hit zombie drama The Walking Dead this weekend. But even if you’re not a fan watching undead cannibals munch on human flesh and wondering whether certain characters are dead or alive, you may still want to check out this week’s episode, as the upcoming War For The Planet of the Apes has something big planned for the evening.

While he didn’t reveal the nature of announcement, director Matt Reeves took to Twitter to let us all know that this Sunday, while we’re getting our fill of zombie mayhem, there will be a little bit of Ape action as well. Check out his communiqué below.

This could, realistically, be just about anything. Production on the third in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, which has been way better than most people anticipated, began fairly recently. We got our first look at the film, also courtesy of Reeves, just over a month ago, in an image that hearkens back to an iconic moment in the 1968, Charlton Heston-starring original.

Given how early in the going it is, not to mention that the movie doesn’t even come out until July of 2017, it seems unlikely that we’re going to get any footage. Perhaps it could be some kind of behind the scenes look. He does specifically use the word "announcement," so maybe we’ll get some news about a big name new cast member or something like that, though during The Walking Dead seems like and odd place to unveil that.

Right now, War For the Planet of the Apes already has a fantastic cast in place. Andy Serkis is back as the Ape leader Caesar, so prepare to have your mind blown again by just how emotional and nuanced a performance he can give even though his character is completely motion captured. Judy Greer is also back as Cornelia, and Steve Zahn will play a new member of the Ape family.

We don’t know a ton about the human side, though Woody Harrelson will play the main non-ape villain, a character only named Colonel so far. At the end of the last chapter, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the human survivors of the Simian Flu in San Francisco made contact with a surviving arm of the military, who were en route. This sets the stage for the coming human/Ape war of the title, so it makes sense for the baddie to be a military man this time.

For all our speculation, we still have no idea what Matt Reeves plans to reveal on Sunday during The Walking Dead, but we’re definitely curious. War For the Planet of the Apesopens July 14, 2017.